Desert Sands
by Izzietheravenclaw83
Summary: this story takes place before Ulquiorra's death, during the battle between Ichigo and Ulquiorra, they are teleported to an endless desert by a mysterious arrancar named Mizu Ōkami, she wishes for Aizen to be killed and believes that the only way to defeat him is with all three's help. But the training takes a turn for the worst with both men vying for Orihime's attention.
1. Prolouge

**A/N: Hello all my FanFiction readers/writers hopefully you all had a lovely 2012, I am so excited to say that my 2012 ended quite happily, I received Internet access and a new keyboard. And you all know what that means… more updates! I know it has been awhile and I'm quite sad to say this but my FanFiction has been placed on the bottom of my very long to do list, with my drum classes, drawing and my new Deviant Art account being at the top of the list. Not to even mention my new boxer puppy, Odin, anyhow, I just want you guys to know that I love you and I will update when possible. **

**~ITRC83**

_Prologue _

Ichigo Kurosaki stood in Vasto Lorde form on the roof of Las Noches, slowly moving towards an almost unconscious Ulquiorra. Ichigo stood towering over Ulquiorra, the blade of his Zanpakuto, Zangetsu, (which was currently in Bankai ) rested above Ulquiorra's neck.

Ichigo's friend Uryu Ishida now stood next to him. "Stop, Ichigo." Ishida stood looking down at Ichigo and finished his sentence gently. "It's over, you've won the battle. It's true he was our enemy, but there's no reason to mutilate his body."

"You've won, Ichigo let it go." Ichigo's Zanpakuto didn't move from Ulquiorra's neck.

Ishida, who could sometimes talk Ichigo out of things continued. "Didn't you hear me?! If you go through this you won't be human anymore!" Ishida had lost all patience and decided not to use rationality. "You have to stop, Ichigo!"

Ichigo, who was not in control of himself stabbed Ishida through the chest, sending him flying. Orihime Inoue who had been a bystander at the time cried out for her friend. "Uryu, No!"

Suddenly Ichigo's attention had been drawn from Uryu, who now laid helplessy on the ground, to Orihime Inoue. A sudden jolt of humanity went into Ichigo, as he walked to Ishida. Ichigo began to fire a cero from between the horns of his hollow mask.

"Ichigo, don't do this!" Orihime called out as Ichigo began to fire the cero. "Please listen to me Ichigo!"

At the last possible second Ulquiorra appeared behind Ichigo carrying Luz de la Luna and attacked Ichigo from behind, cutting off his left horn. Before anything else could happen A flash of red light covered the roof of Las Noches, teleporting Ichigo, Ulquiorra, and Orihime far away. Also leaving a half dead Uryu on the roof of Las Noches roof. Thankfully Ichigo's Zanpakuto was teleported as well.

X

**A/N: So that was the prologue of this new FanFiction. As always R&R ^.^**

**~ITRC83 **


	2. What would you do?

**A/N: Hello my lovely FanFiction readers (and writers) I am proud to present the first, of many, chapter of Desert Sands. Please R&R! And play nice!**

Where am I?...

I opened my eyes, taking in my surroundings. My vision was blurred and I tell that I was endless Grey-beige sands seemed somewhat haunting and familiar at the same moment.

My head was pounding and then I noticed that I had hit my head on the only rock in this barren wasteland. I reached up with my right hand and pressed down hard on the small bump that currently rested on the left side of my head. I pulled back my hand to reveal that it was red and sticky.

I looked at the things around me, to my left was a small hut with wooden barrels in front of it, to my right was Ichigo. He was laying facedown in the grey sand that covered the land. His strange hollowfaction was no longer apparent.

One question still remained though. Where was Ulquiorra and Uryuu?

I pushed myself into an awkward sitting position and continued looking around. When I had my back turned, a young woman around what looked like 20 years old pushed me to the ground.

"Rest girl," She commanded as she walked over to the larger barrels and sat on top of one, crossing her legs. "You're going to need it."

I ignored her warnings about "Resting" and pushed myself into a less awkward sitting position, never looking away from her.

I checked my head again, I could tell from my miscoloured hair that my head was still bleeding. When I reached up to touch the small cut on my head I felt a sharp pain in my left eye. "Ow!" I gasped silently.

I looked over at the young woman, who thankfully hadn't heard me. "Who are you anyway?" I asked.

She looked over at me for a few seconds and then broke into a wide smile. She walked over to me then extended her right hand out to me to help me up. "Where are my manners? I'm Miku, Miku Okami."

"Nice to meet ya!" I responded. I thought for a second. Ulquiorra and Uryuu were still nowhere to be found. "Where's...Uryuu?"

She looked confused for a second, then I realized she had no idea who the hell Uryuu was. "This _Uryuu_ you speak of..." She held her left arm high above her head. "Is he about this tall and kind of Dorky?"

I never really classified Uryuu Ishida as "nerdy" or "dorky", I mean he _was_ on in the handi-crafts club and he was always bad at talking to girls but... Who was I kidding?! He is _really_ nerdy. "Yes, do you know where he is?"

She smiled at me in a very big sisterly way that somehow reminded me of Sora, only femine. She had ice blue hair that stuck out everywhere even though she tried to keep her hair in pig-tails but was clearly failing. She had bright blue eyes that almost matched her messy hair. She had a pretty, white, stone masquerade mask that looked a lot like a Hollow mask.

However, the only thing that caught my eye were the two ice coloured crystals that hung off either pigtail. The two pigtails looked remarkably like my own Shun Shun Rikka. They reminded me so much that I instinctivatley reached up to touch my own, making sure she hadn't taken mine when I was passed out. Thankfully they were still there, I breathed out the air I didn't know I was holding and turned to Miku.

"He's with my fraccion, Janis." She turned away from me. "I must assume he is just fine."

Uruyuu's P.O.V

I yawned, snapping out of my long and painful slumber. I looked quickly from left to right, startled by my barren surroundings. A quick pain startled my breathing for a second before racing into a coughing fit.

I coughed twice when a petite, pale hand pressed down on my chest, placing my breathing back to normal. "GAAA!" I attempted to scramble away but the young girl jumped away before I could move. "What were you doing?!" I screamed at her.

Instead of answering me she reached into her left sweater pocket and pulled out a familiar object. She held my glasses directly in my line of sight so I couldn't miss them. I greedily reached out and snatched them from her, putting the square rimmed glasses into their usual place where they would fall down no matter how hard I tried to keep them on. Blinking I recieved a clearer look of her.

She wore a small, strapless white dress that cut off above the knee and a half zipped-up grey sweater that covered most of her left shoulder but completely slid off the right one. The sweater matched her eyes perfectly. And her short hair was a lovely shade of bubblegum pink styled to fall over her right eye.

She looked maybe one year younger than I was.

She turned swiftly away from me and I began to hear crackling sounds from in front of her, I then realized she was cooking something. I inhaled deeply at the smell of what I believed to be Kayu. (Please note Kayu is a tradtional rice pudding dish that is very sweet and sticky.)

I sat up, suddenly aware of how hungry I was. Startled by the sudden pain through my torso, I noticed bandages wrapping around my chest. "What happened to me?" I asked he as I attempted to stand. Suddenly I saw a flash of movement and I was sitting again. _Did she do that?_ I asked myself as I looked over at her, she looked normal enough. But there was no way I fell.

I pushed myself up using my hands and knees so that I now stood. It happened again. This time though I followed her movements and saw a quick bit of her as she pulled me down to the ground and then returned to her cooking. "Why do you keep doing that?!" I demanded as she cooked some more. "Can you speak?" I asked her as I accepted the fact that I was sitting no matter what I tried that was the outcome.

She nodded and picked up her bag, pulling out a wooden bowl and spoon for the Kayu. "Then why don't you?" I asked her begining to realize this was becoming a one-sided conversation.

She shrugged her shoulders as she moved over to me, handing me an ugly yellow wooden bowl filled with sweet rice pudding.

She sat down in front of me and watched as I devoured the rice pudding. "Aren't you hungry?" I asked as she shook her head frantically.

"Alright then. You really should eat something though, it's dangerous for someone live you to starve yourself, especially in these barren surroundings. Could be dangerous for a girl like you..." She sighed loudly and filled a red bowl she had taken out before the yellow one.

She filled the bowl about 1/4 full and sat down quickly. So quickly in fact that she spilled half the bowl's content on her left Mary Jane. She glared at me as if to say _look what you've done_, she kicked off her left shoe and threw it at me.

I placed my jacket's white sleeve over my hand and rubbed the rice away.

I handed her the shoe and she sheepishly took it, blushing a little, causing her normally pale peach skin to turn a light pink.

She placed the shoe on her foot and smiled a little. "It's okay, I have a spare." I pulled out a matching blue and white jacket out of the inside of my current jacket.

I changed quickly, hating having to waste another perfectly good jacket. When I saw Kurosaki again, he would be dead. "Ta-da!" I said as she giggled.

Orihime's P.O.V

"Well...that's good. But, where's Ulquiorra?" My friends were always first...wait, was Ulquiorra really my friend? I mean we have chatted a bit, but he kiddnapped me! Maybe friends was too much for now, we were more like aquaintances.

Miku smiled down at me in her sisterly way. "He's..." She didn't need to finish her sentence. A loud squeak of metal against metal erupted behind us as the hut's shower curtain type door opened. A dark figure stood behind it.

Ulquiorra's blanck, emotionless face stood staring into the eternal night. His Espada uniform was totally wrecked, the pants were tattered around the thighs and ankles. His tunic, on the other hand was almost non-exsistant, except for a tiny piece of cloth that rolled down from his chest to his elbow.

He continued staring out into the night with his stone-cold eyes. Miku turned to me, her smile had grown wider and she was now smiling ear to ear. "Anyone with those injuries would have surely died...but not him." She pointed to Ulquiorra. "His own strength was enough to keep him alive. You're quite lucky to have him."

"..." Wait a second, did she think Ulquiorra and I were...No! "Ulquiorra and I are just friends." There was that word again. "Aquaintances actually. Not that any woman wouldn't be lucky to _have_ him. Unless, his prefrence is... then any man would be lucky to have him. I mean, he and Grimmjow were always close, but-" A flash-back to when Grimmjow helped me sent shivers down my spine.

"Woman, are you talking about me?"

I hadn't been paying close enough attention to where Ulquiorra had been standing and accedently allowed him to sneak up on me, I had rather been staring down at the ground.

My face turned a bright shade of red as I quickly looked away. "To reasure you, there is _nothing_ between Grimmjow and I." I felt my face go even more red.

Miku walked up to me, giving me no time to appologize for saying those things about Ulquiorra behind his back. "Orihime, meet me inside the hut to help heal Ichigo, okay?"

I nodded as she walked towards the unconcious Ichigo. She moved to his left side and hauled him over her shoulder. She moved towards the hut and opened the curtain, only to disappear into the darkness that awaited.

X

I stood outside of the little hut that belonged to Miku. The tiny brown hut stood as a becon in the grey endless desert. While staring at the hut Kurosaki-kun had been brought into while unconcious, I was petrified the same hollowfication I had caused last time I healed him would appear again.

With one last quick glance to Ulquiorra, who sat still staring out into the night obviously lost in thoughts. I swallowed my fear and took a few steps closer to the hut also now getting a clearer look at the hut.

The hut had no door, just a simple piece of black tattered cloth attached to some rusted wire that was red and brown. I slid the cloth across and stepped inside.

What laid before me shocked me so much I wish not to speak of it because it brings back images of what I saw.

But, I must...

Ichigo laid butt-ass naked on what I assumed to be the dining table.

Face up.

I shrieked and turned away, my face was a bright shade of crimson, my face plastered with obvious shock.

Now children, you see when you hear a person scream at the top of their lungs it's only natural to investigate (this is what horror movies have taught me). So now Ulquiorra stood horrified, and with his back turned as well. His normal grey skin tone was suddenly a soft pink.

He half-glanced at me, our backs were still to Ichigo's naked body. "There is a lifetime full of things I am to see, I can honestly say that I did not expect that to be one of them."

I smiled at the cute guesture. Ulquiorra, however did not intend for it to sound _cute_ though. But I still found it amusing.

Miku, who I hadn't noticed before touched me lightly on the shoulder, signaling it was okay to turn around. Ichigo now had a charcoal blanket resting over his...body.

"Mr. Schiffer, I must ask you to leave." She knew he had no intention of turning around so she stepped in front of him. "It is best if Orihime and I healed Kurosaki _alone_." She stressed "Alone" in a very Unohana manner.

Ulquiorra gave a quick bow, that he no doubt learned to announce his departure from a room. Before he left though he turned to Miku. "I don't recall ever telling you my name, how do you know it?"

Miku returned his cold, practiced, malitious glare. "I heard it from Aizen." She spat Aizen's name like poison in a manor that caused me to wince.

"A-Aizen?" I stuttered the name of the only man who actually scared me. "You never said anything about ever meeting him."

She turned to me, never taking her eyes off of Ulquiorra though. "Orihime, please tell me you didn't believe a complete stranger would take in the enemy, and heal you all only to kill you. You had to believe there was a connection."

I thought about it for a second, I had never even thought to ask about why she was helping us. What was the connection between Miku and Aizen? I had to ask.

Ulquiorra beat me to it.

"So how do you know Aizen? We have our reasons for wanting to kill Aizen, what's yours?" Her eyes flickered for a second.

She pointed to the crates that were organized neatly in the left-top corner of the hut. "Ulquiorra pull up a seat. Orihime, help me heal Kurosaki."

**A/N: Hey, look what I just did! I left at a cliff-hanger! So, next chapter; The shinigami's tale: Miku's past is revealed, along with the for Miku's hatred for Aizen. Also Orihime, Ichigo, Ulquiorra, and Uryuu begin training. **


End file.
